Monday, January 28, 2013

I grew up in Chicago where good pizza was always a stone's throw away. Or a phone call away. Pizza wasn't something fancy. It was what you ordered when you didn't feel like cooking. Maybe you grabbed a pizza after a movie. It's what the babysitter ordered.

When I moved to my new home in Colorado, pizza wasn't that easy. When we first moved here, there was no good pizza. There wasn't even average pizza. It was all pretty awful.

Now, there are some pretty fancy pizza places in Boulder. But ... but ... that makes it a "dinner out" option rather than a phone call for delivery.

If you know me at all, you know that I've made my share of pizzas from scratch. Heck, I make bread, there's no reason I can't make pizza dough. But that's not on the agenda on those "gee, I've been cleaning all day and now I want food to magically appear" kinds of days.

Enter American Flatbread pizza. I was offered the opportunity to sample the pizzas, and I have to say these are pretty darned good. What surprised me was how fresh the tomatoes tasted on the one you see here.

These are par-baked in wood-fired ovens, so you just need a quick bake in a hot oven to melt the cheese and crisp the crust, and you're done.

And, wow, the pizza actually looks like what's pictured on the box. That's just crazy stuff, right? That pizza right there is still frosty, and it looks pretty good, right?.

Above, the pizza before baking.

And below, after baking ...

Looks pretty good, eh?

The crust is thin and crisp rather than being a big puffy, thick, bready crust. Like the name says, these are flatbread pizzas, not deep dish. I'm looking forward to finding these on sale locally. Having a few of these on hand would be nice for those days when I want pizza, but I don't want to fuss at home or go out for dinner.

Or ... for hanging around the house, watching TV (and isn't there some big sporting event coming?) or for feeding unexpected guests. Pop a few of these in the oven, and you've got food fast.

Ahhh ... but the goodies I got didn't end there.

Rustic Crust and Mom's Scrambled Eggs

Rustic Crust makes pizza crusts, gluten-free pizza crusts, and ciabatta. I was sent the ciabatta, which was flavored with basil and sea salt. Just like the pizza, it cooked quickly. Preheating the oven was the longest part.

This ciabatta was fairly thin, which I liked. The great thing about ciabatta is that it's such a blank canvas. I mean, it's bread. You can eat it plain, use it to make sandwiches, dip it in oil, dip it in a sauce, or do whatever you like.

Just rip into it and eat.

I decided to use it for a breakfast-brunch-like item. Of course basil pairs nicely with tomatoes, and I love tomatoes and eggs. So there it was - scrambled eggs and some little tomatoes on top of a basil-flavored ciabatta, with a little fresh ground pepper for a finish.

Looks good, huh?

So, no real recipe here, but can I tell you about my Mom's scrambled eggs? Because she didn't make her scrambled eggs the way most people do these days. Look closer.

Do you see the difference? See the bits of white mixed with the yellow? Those are photographic highlights, that's how the eggs are cooked.

You see, most people beat or whip their eggs before they cook them. Mom would crack the eggs into the pan and then break the yolks and mix them around. So there would be bits of cooked whites that weren't mixed with the yolks. Kind of like the whites in an over-easy egg. Sometimes she waited longer before mixing and the whites were more visible (and the yellow was yellower), and sometimes it was pretty quick so there wasn't quite as much contrast.

I'm betting a lot of people would look at the way my mom cooked eggs and say that it was wrong. But I like it. You get a little texture difference, and the white mixed with the yellow is a little more interesting, visually.

So there ya go. Mom's secret scrambled eggs. Give 'em a try.

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Cookbook author and food writer for Serious Eats, Whisk Magazine, and the Left Hand Valley Courier, among others. Columnist at American Recycler. Blogger at www.cookistry.com and reviews.cookistry.com.

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